I think it is agreed amongst us all, that 2020 has not been the best year, to say the least. Many of you will have had trips cancelled or postponed (me included), and we’ve been stuck in the house more than we’d have liked. Things were still ticking away in Efteling of course, between closures. Although some things, like the rebuilding of Vrouw Holle’s house, have been postponed until who-knows-when.
Thanks to Eftelwesley for this video of all the highlights of the year. We’ve gained some things (a temporary supermarket in the Carrouseltheater) and lost some things, (goodbye Polka Marina) but hopefully, we can all return sooner rather than later; we all need it!
Efteling are making Christmas dinner! If you’d like to have a Christmas dinner cooked by Efteling chefs, ready for you to pick up on Christmas Eve, this is now possible.
Choose from a menu of meat, fish, or vegetarian, and priced at 29,50 per person (19,50 for kids). You can book your meal and pick a timeslot in which to pick it up on on December 24th; I believe you pick it up from the Efteling Hotel car park.
On January 4th, refurbishment of the Efteling Hotel’s comfort rooms and junior suites will begin. The two-person rooms will gain an extra bed, making it a three-person room, the floor will be given a new carpet around the beds, and a wooden-look floor in the rest of the room, and the bathroom now appears without a bath, and has a walk-in shower instead. The corridors and the elevators will be re-themed in the near future too, which hasn’t been done for a while.
Yes that does appear to be a duck with a lamp as a head…
The new rooms look very nice of course, very different from the fresh white and royal blue that they are now. Personally I can’t see that they needed refurbishment because I always thought that they looked great, but change isn’t always bad! Having said that, I can’t agree with ditching the bath, because sometimes after a long day of walking around, you just need to take a bath! Or you might have a baby, who you can’t just stick in the shower.
The walk-in shower.
The hotel will reopen on March 8th (closed from January 4th).
If you need some Efteling music to get you through the day, but don’t have time to listen to a full soundtrack, have a listen to this wonderful Efteling medley by Matthew Wakefield! Accompanied by some Efteling visuals, this is a wonderful arrangement that includes some of the best Efteling music.
As there can be no Ice Palace at Efteling this year, they have set up a ‘Winter Meadow’ instead. It includes food stands, merchandise stalls, and a fire pit. There is also a lovely sleigh which you can sit in and have your photo taken. It is in the same place as where the Ice Palace usually stands, so it is nice and spacious. Live entertainment such as the Lichtpuntjes and the Fire Prince and Snow Princess can also be seen here. See the video from Eftelwesley below:
Efteling have also introduced some covered seating to a few places in the park, such as on the Ton van de Ven Square, since you can only buy takeaway food still for the moment.
Photo from the Efteling blog
In other non-winter related news, November 30th is the last day to ride Polka Marina. It has been in the park for 36 years and has come to the end of its life. In summer 2021, a play area called ‘Nest’ will open. From the Efteling blog:
‘Between De Vliegende Hollander and the Game Gallery, Nest! Will open in the summer of 2021: a play forest with various play options for all children, with or without a visible or invisible restriction.’
Concept art for Nest
I’m personally not sure about this change, although I’m sure that it will be great because Efteling do great with everything that they do! As the parent of a toddler, I really do wish that there was some sot of indoor play area for the little people, for the times when it is raining or just too cold outside.
A few weeks ago, Efteling debuted a new incarnation of Aquanura, featuring Dutch singer Guus Meeuwis. I have to be honest, I’d never heard of him before now. The show however, has definitely grown on me. The Carnaval Festival segment in particular is very catchy and gets into your head. This show also features Symbolica which was really nice to hear.
A lot of you who read this site will also follow us on Facebook. We have an Efteling UK page and an Efteling Fans UK group.
Now we have the first Efteling art for the group for Efteling UK! A special thanks to our creative centipede Anthony Hanssens, we now have our own group cover, based on and in the style of Anton Pieck.
I think you’ll agree that it fits perfectly and is beautiful!
Efteling merchandise has varied in quality over the years, from very good to very tacky! As an Efteling fan, there are quite a few things that I *wish* they would make available, so I’m going to make a few mini posts, kind of like an Efteling ‘wishlist’ of what I’d like to see to buy in the park.
Some of these things have been available before, so it’ll also be a bit of a nostalgia trip.
First up…Room spray! But I don’t necessarily want it back…
I would love for Efteling to make this into a candle, because to be honest, the room spray was a little bit too strong. And by a ‘little’, I mean a lot! One spray of one of those things and you were smelling it for the next week! It’s so strong that I’ve still got a couple of each left, they just seem to last forever!
A candle would be a nice subtle way of having the Fata Morgana and Droomvlucht scents in your home (and maybe some other scents too; gingerbread anyone?). There were once some oils for sale too, which were really nice, and a bit more subtle than the sprays, but I’ve not seen those on recent trips.
I’ve never managed a visit to the Anton Pieck Museum in Hattem myself, (it’s on the to-do list) but now would be a perfect time to go, because until the end of February 2021 they have an Efteling exhibition running. It is called ‘Once Upon a Time…’ and it centres around the early years of the park.
There are, as you’d expect, a lot of Pieck’s drawings included in the exhibition, of both concept art for various fairy tales in the park as well as drawings which show the inner workings of some of the stories such as Langnek and The Magic Clock. Alongside these drawings are various props (including a very large frog and a very small pair of gnome trousers) and some merchandise which has been available over the years (including 2019’s Winter Langnek jumper).
Also included are concept drawings for a haunted house, which would later become Spookslot.
Here’s a tour of the exhibition for those of us who can’t attend:
If you want to take a trip to the museum, you must book a ticket first at www.antonpieckmuseum.nl
Over the years we’ve found a couple of Efteling things in charity shops in our local area. We found a Pardoes glass once, and another time we found a small Laaf clock. This was years and years ago though.
Then, within the last 10 days, we’ve gotten our hands on all of these things pictured below…
Good things come in 3s right?! Pardoes and the small Laaf are from charity shops, and the 3 bigger Laafs came from Facebook Marketplace about 3 minutes from my house. Score!
I’m interested to hear if anyone else has found any Efteling stuff on their travels around second-hand shops/markets etc.
